Every young teenage girl has a dreams of getting married. Usually at that age, it's to some celebrity heart throb that will never actually happen. I, of course, was one of those girls. I think millions of girls my age had very similar crushes. I watched the shows they were on, read the magazines they were in, listened to their music, hung their posters on my wall, anything that had to do with the heart throb of the moment.
It all started with this guy.
Jonathan Taylor Thomas. No matter what I searched on the Internet, I could not find the actual poster I used to have on my wall. But I know that multiple girls my age had the same poster. I think I still have it at my parents house somewhere. I might find it and update this post later. JTT was the first celebrity crush. He was just so dang cute. I loved Home Improvement. I made sure to watch all his movies. But then he started to get older and not make as many movies. He started to phase out and I had to move on.
The new obsession?
Leonardo DiCaprio, of course. This is the poster I had on my wall. Along with multiple pictures I ripped out of magazines. Oh, and the best part? I had my mom laminate all my full size posters. I didn't want them to get ruined or ripped. And the pictures I "ripped" out of the magazines were actually very precisely cut out with care. I watched Romeo & Juliet multiple times. I started to know certain scenes by heart. Now I kind of want to watch it. It's a really good movie. Leonardo is still very handsome and probably my favorite male actor. He is super talented.
But NOTHING could compare to the obsession I had with this group....
Backstreet Boys. Boy, was I OBSESSED. Posters. Cd's. Magazines. Calendars. Everything that had to do with them, I wanted. Including concert tickets. I begged my mom to let me go to their concert. I got my twelve year old butt up before the sun to wait for a wristband to get tickets. Then went back before the sun another day to line up according to my wristband number and purchase the tickets. It paid off because I was in the second row. It was my first concert. I remember being so nervous the whole way there that we weren't going to get there in time. I was afraid we would miss them coming out on stage and the whole experience would be ruined. Of course we made it in plenty of time.
I grew up in the during the boy band explosion. There was Backstreet Boys, 'N SYNC, 98 Degrees, and many more. It was OK to like them all, but you had to pick a favorite. You couldn't like them all the same. It usually turned into either a Backstreet Boy fan or 'N SYNC fan. Oh the wars that could have started on the playground.
Now, to prove my Backstreet Boy obsession to the world. I'm about to show you something that is, well, embarrassing. While I may be embarrassed, you my friend are going to be jealous.
My very own, handmade, Backstreet Boy binder.
The front. I didn't draw that. I couldn't if I wanted to. I cut it out of a magazine and used the clear contact paper stuff to laminate it to the cover.
The first page. I cut those pictures out of a magazine and then printed the text on the computer. I remember being so frustrated trying to get their names to line up under their picture just how I wanted them to. Every page was carefully cut out, arranged and placed into page protectors. (Yep, I was crazy.)
It started with group shots.
And magazine covers. (Look, there's my Leo too)
Do these magazines still exist?
Then it was broken up into the individual guys. Brian was my favorite and his section is the biggest.
Then all the articles and interviews.
Any ad that had the Boys in it.
Remember those little cameras? They printed out tiny sticky pictures.
Of course, the got milk ad.
The ticket stub from my concert and confetti from the show. Oct 29, 1999.
I think I still have my Backstreet Boy glow stick somewhere.
The last page protector is full of cut outs that never got arranged into anything.
Lastly, the back. All pictures I cut out and arranged. I used packaging tape to laminate it to the back.
Notice the detail. I cut around their bodies so they could be placed there without covering the other pictures.
All and all, 80 page protectors with pictures front and back. That's a lot of time and energy put into these fellas. Too bad they will never know the extent to which I was obsessed. I'm sure they have met some crazies over the years.
Boy bands are now an endangered species. Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block have joined forces to try and save the art. I don't know how well it's working. Today, it's all about the Bieber Fever. Which I'm not embarrassed to admit, I have a slight case of. But then I remember he's 17 and I'm 24 and I snap out of it. He is very talented though.
Now you know my dirty little boy band secret. You can judge me, but you're wishing you had made a binder of your obsession back in the preteen years. It's OK to be jealous. If you want, I'll let you come look at my binder from time to time.
